Report: U.S. and U.K. spied on Israeli drones for years

Associated Press

Friday, Jan. 29, 2016 | 1:03 a.m.

JERUSALEM — International media is reporting that U.S and British intelligence cracked the codes of Israeli drones operating in the Middle East and monitored their surveillance feeds for several years.

A joint report Friday by the German daily Der Spiegel and the investigative website The Intercept said the details emerged from documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked millions of documents about U.S. government surveillance in 2013.

The reports said the intelligence agencies were able to watch information that the drones broadcast back to their handlers. The operation codenamed "anarchist" also hacked into systems in Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Syria, the reports said.